Searching for a new minister can be a daunting task for many churches as they seek applicants best befitting their needs, goals, and budget. Recently, the Bristow First United Methodist Church found itself in this scenario. Fortunately, Kellyville United Methodist Church Minister Greg Boyd met the church’s needs. He also continues to serve as the minister for the Kellyville church.
While Greg Boyd could retire if he so chooses, he opts to continue serving both churches in a part-time capacity. He enjoys serving in ministry and connecting with people of all walks of life. He meets anyone wherever he or she is in that moment, taking the time to get to know and share philosophies and perspectives with each person willing to have those conversations. His sense of humor provides shared moments of laughter and joy while discussing some of life’s challenges and uncertainties, connecting important lessons learned without the need or opportunity for offense. Thankfully, I was afforded such an opportunity as I met and spoke with him for this article.
As we began our chat, he lightheartedly suggested I likely wanted to know where it all began before propping up his feet on his desk and sinking ever lower in his chair, calmly proclaiming that it all began when he was born. Of course, I laughed, and the ice was broken. From that moment, it became clear that Minister Boyd cherishes opportunities to connect with others. He intentionally chose connection rather than rigid adherence to a single line of questioning or meaningless chatter. Throughout our conversation, his style indicated his preference to teach and share rather than to preach—a point he confirmed later. For him, serving as minister means following and sharing Christ’s biblical example rather than speaking at or about people. For him, serving entails meeting people along life’s paths to walk through it with them as Jesus also did. His life’s work conveys that message as well.
Minister Boyd indicated an inner awareness of his desire to work in ministry since his adolescence. He gave his life to the Lord at age twelve but wandered through life over the next ten to twenty years, working in collections for credit card, retail, and educational institutions and expressing his dissatisfaction of the depressing premise and workload. He even earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Tulsa in 1975 in broadcasting, which he never utilized occupationally. Then, in 1976, he began working with Insight Ministries, a nondenominational campus ministry. Through Insight Ministries, he learned that he enjoyed witnessing and working in ministry. Again, he felt the inner desire to work as a minister.
As an adult, he lived in Tulsa, Missouri, Indiana, and other locations, working in debt collections and ministry. In 1991, he moved back to Tulsa for the final time, attending Oral Roberts University and working as an evangelistic intern for the First United Methodist Church in Tulsa. He later transferred to Phillips Theological Seminary, graduating with a Master of Divinity in 1995. He did not work in collections again.
His ministerial work includes having served campus ministries, Methodist churches in associate and lead ministerial roles, prisoners via Criminal Justice and Mercy Ministries, and hospice patients. In 2017, he became the full-time minister for the Kellyville United Methodist Church, where he continues to work in a parttime capacity since assuming the role of minister for Bristow First United Methodist Church on July 1st. Minister Boyd said he enjoys serving both communities.
Additionally, Minister Boyd expressed his delight in learning from and sharing with others through the small group dynamics of Bible studies. Since both the Kellyville and Bristow churches remain small, he is able to serve both churches doing what he most enjoys: connecting with individuals through ministry.
Although working in ministry provides him much joy in life, he also enjoys a few hobbies. For one thing, he enjoys Sooner football like so many fellow Oklahomans. He enjoys learning and words, including engaging in wordplay and discovering unknown meanings of common words. In the past, Minister Boyd wrote his own songs; although he no longer writes, he does play the guitar and continues to take guitar lessons. Finally, he finds pleasure in acting, having acted in productions with Theatre Tulsa and the American Theatre Company.
Finally, Minister Boyd and his wife of 24 years, Susan, continue to live in Tulsa. Both continue to work, fulfilling their dreams and passions. Since he works outside of Tulsa, he commutes to Kellyville and Bristow five days each week, working in Bristow on Mondays and Wednesdays and in Kellyville on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Each Sunday, he teaches and presents his sermon to the Bristow church from 9:30 to 10:30 and to the Kellyville church from 11 to noon. Anyone interested in getting to know Minister Boyd or the salvation of Jesus Christ is welcomed to attend either service or contact the church.